Almanac Footy Life: Jimmy Dobbyn – The Phantom of the MCG
October 4, 2022 by 7 Comments
This is a classic story told by Ron Barassi on Prime 7, quite a few years ago. It features some famous names from Shepparton and Mooroopna.
It’s the story of Jimmy Dobbyn.
About Almanac Admin
Ripper story.
Wonder howJimmy would go with facial recognition technology. Sneak in as Bob Rose?
I met Glenn James last year at a function and we got talking and he asked me, ‘Was your grandfather F.O.Cameron?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ He said, ‘I fixed his gate once.’
I have played golf with Glenn James. And shared a mic with him on NIRS footy coverage. (We were on duty the day Solomon decked Ling at Kardiania Park, among others) I enjoy his company very much.
The James family, I’m told, have been outstanding sports people in the Shepparton area. I think the boys played footy for Lemnos. One of Glenn’s brothers made runs against the touring Englishmen way back when.
Glenn also played good footy. When I interviewed Geelong’s Wayne Closter on 3LO we chatted about the quality of sport played in the military especially during war-time when the barracks were swollen. Wayne played footy during National Service. I asked him whether he came up against other top players (I was thinking VFL, SANFL, WAFL etc) He said, “Yeah, there was this lanky bloke who was one of my toughest opponents: Glenn James.”
We must get Glenn back to the North Fitzroy Arms.
I should also mention there are some terrific characters in this Jim Dobbyn story. Tom Carey was a classic, sadly died too young. I used to read his contributions in the Australian – he was a freelance contributor from Shepparton. He seemed to write about things that were interesting and that mattered, especially about country people and life. He seemed to understand the larrikin, and appreciate the absurd. I very much enjoyed meeting him eventually. He also would have been a brilliant guest at an Almanac lunch.
A cracking story.
Glenn James also a pretty handy boxer while serving in the military from memory.
Cracking story!
Great to see great old Mooroopna player Pee Wee Young and City United star defender Tom Carey in the video.
It was Tom, who became the Shepp News chief footy writer in 1973, that outed Jimmy Dobbyn in a piece in the Herald-Sun in 1992 on his ingenuous ways to get into the MCG on Grand final day.
Tom also wrote about Jimmy in his book on the Mooroopna footy club history..
Guess the title Darky Harms? You’re right about Tom!
Symmetry of Souls: Blues Brothers, Cats Cousins
Mooroopna wore the blue and white hoops and were called the Blues in the Goulburn Valley league until the mid 1960s. Tongala were the Navy Blues.
.
Tom was a wonderful singer as well and took leading roles in productions by the Shepparton Light Musical Company.He played Lt. Cable in “South Pacific” on the eve of the 1967 GVL grand final then went out and was one of United’s best in their shock win over Shepparton going for five-in-a-row.
And yes, Glen James played footy for Lemnos. His bother Des was a star in Lemnos’s premiership win over Kyabram in 1970. Glen went umpiring and I recall him umpiring games I played in for Stanhope. Terrific umpire with a great understanding of the nuances of the game. Then went to serve in Vietnam.
Tom Carey sang at the funural of North Melbourne star Jock Spencer. I knew Jock and Jimmy Dobbyn and they were both old school characters. The best I ever did at work footy tipping was the year I would head into the Top Pub at Tatura to see who Jock had tipped in the pub footy tipping and I would copy it for my work comp. The best story I have about Jimmy is his frantic search of the Mooroopna bush after the ’74 floods – trying to find his buried two-up cash stash.